LAKE PLACID - A partnership between this village and the town of Lake Placid, Fla., is now official.
A proclamation declaring the two communities sister cities was signed in October by Lake Placid Mayor Craig Randall, town of North Elba Supervisor Roby Politi and Lake Placid, Fla., Mayor John Holbrook.
Randall said on Friday that he thinks it's too soon to know for sure what benefits will result from this new relationship, but he can envision certain exchanges occurring between the two communities.
"The type of things that typically happen are that there are cultural exchanges that can occur, and I would think maybe some marketing opportunities here for us," he said. "At the very least, I would think as it becomes a little more filled out that folks that travel south maybe will decide to include Lake Placid, Fla., for a visit, in the very same way that their people coming north might do the same thing."
Sue Cameron, administrative assistant for the Lake Placid Visitors Bureau, who has been helping to facilitate this partnership with Lake Placid, Fla., said she is happy to see this relationship materialize.
"I'm very pleased because it's our first non-Olympic sister city," she said.
Other sister cities the village has includes: Salt Lake City, Utah; Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; Whistler, British Columbia, Canada; Calgary, Alberta, Canada; Lillehammer, Norway; and Torino, Italy.
It was in part decided to include Lake Placid, Fla., to the list of sister cities the village has since the two communities have a historical connection in the form of Melvil Dewey.
Melvil Dewey
Dewey, known for inventing the Dewey Decimal System, founded the Lake Placid Club in the village of Lake Placid in 1885. He helped to establish the village as a winter sports destination - at the time it was a popular summer destination for residents of the Northeast - after ignoring skeptics and extending the Lake Placid Club's season through the 1904 and 1905 winter season.
In 1926, Dewey moved to Florida to establish a southern branch of the Lake Placid Club. He bought a large plot of land in Lake Stearns, Fla.
"Dewey thought this area of Florida reminded him of the Adirondacks; we do have these nice rolling hills and abundance of lakes," said Anthony Haney, executive director of the Lake Placid Camp and Conference Center, a Christian community that provides education and spiritual retreats.
The Lake Placid Camp and Conference Center actually sits on the site of the former Lake Placid Club southern branch that Dewey established.
In 1927 Dewey renamed Lake Stearns to Lake Placid, and he also changed the names of several area lakes; one becoming Lake Placid and another becoming Lake Mirror.
"(Since) there is a historical significance between the two communities, I think it makes it a very appropriate activity for us to recognize the relationship that does exist," Randall said.
The process
Lake Placid, Fla., was the one to suggest the sister city designation, according to Harriet Porter, president of the Lake Placid Mural Society and Tour Lake Placid.
"In June of this year I went to our chamber executive, Eileen May, and along with Kay Tarr, museum coordinator, we placed a conference call to your chamber of commerce," she said. "We had a very cordial conversation. From then on, I had several emails and telephone conversations with Sue Cameron. We were both excited about the possibility (of becoming sister cities)."
There were several reasons why Lake Placid, Fla., initiated this conversation, according to a written statement dated July 11 to Jim McKenna, director of the Lake Placid Visitors Bureau, from May.
"We are interested in being a sister city with Lake Placid, N.Y., to share our culture, arts and tourism," May wrote. "Lake Placid, Fla., is celebrating our 85th birthday in 2012, and as part of a planned yearlong celebration, we would be proud to announce that we are new sister cities with Lake Placid, N.Y."
Cameron said while deciding on whether to become sister cities with Lake Placid, Fla., research was conducted.
"When we were researching it, we actually thought that this had happened a long time ago because we couldn't believe it hadn't given the names and the history," she said. "And it has been talked about in the past, but it had never happened, and we were really surprised that it hadn't."
"This relationship is 85 years in the making," Porter said.
